Question of the Day - 08 February 2025

[Editor's Note: This answer is provided by David McKee, who has four cats, and edited by Deke Castleman, who though he no longer has any, raised and loved about a dozen over the decades.]

On an April evening four years ago, the quiet of the 8800 block of Saxon Canyon Street, near Shadow Ridge High School, was pierced by a gunshot. “Police say a cat was shot, killed, and left in a dumpster not far from the home,” was KTNV-TV how reported the crime, back on April 18, 2021. 

Karl Garcia, manager of a Chick-fil-A in the Las Vegas Valley, and son Logan Garcia were arrested, in part because they couldn’t keep their stories straight. The clinching evidence was Ring camera video obtained when Garcia Senior was ratted out to Metro by his wife Hollee.

Karl Garcia’s bald denial was that the cat had invaded the backyard of Casa Garcia and was attacking the dogs kenneled there. “However, after reviewing the video from the backyard, officers say they saw both father and son, along with the family's three dogs, corner the cat,” continued the April 2021 report.

KLAS-TV provided further color. “Dogs had been let out into the backyard and had immediately surrounded a cat, which officers later identified as a neighbor’s gray and white housecat named Taco.”

The Garcias were caught on video tormenting the unfortunate feline by beating it with a bat, shooting it with a BB gun, and blasting it with a 22-caliber pistol.

The Garcias’ motive for the murder of an outnumbered feline? It left paw prints on their pool deck. Police opined that the two Garcia men shouldn't have felt threatened by one kitty and, had they gone inside, the cat would have left, contrary to their claims that it wouldn’t go. 

The elder Garcia was arrested and charged with six crimes: willful/malicious torture or killing of a cat/animal, five counts of discharging a gun where others might be endangered, conspiracy to kill/maim/disfigure/poison an animal belonging to another, and destroy/conceal evidence.

Logan Garcia also paid a visit to jail, being charged with a felony count of willful/malicious torture or killing of a cat/animal and a gross misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to kill/maim/disfigure/poison an animal of another and destroy/concealing evidence. 

Despite the pileup of felonies, the Garcias were released without bail. 

The Garcias weren’t the least bit contrite. Karl Garcia opted for a "stand your ground" defense, even though Taco’s worst misdeed was to scratch the face of one of Garcia’s chocolate Labrador retrievers. An ex-Navy man and former Amazon employee, Karl Garcia had (according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal) “a prior conviction for domestic violence in 2008 and was sentenced to community service.”

Karl Garcia’s employment with Chick-fil-A ended in the month following his arrest and his LinkedIn profile shows no subsequent jobs. His dogs were also confiscated by Clark County. 

His and Logan’s trial was initially scheduled for May 2, 2022. Then a series of delays set in. The trial was pushed back to November of that year, and again to May 8, 2023. Justice delayed, however, proved to be justice for Taco denied. The Garcias got their case postponed still further, until Jan. 16, 2024.

We appealed to the Clark County District Attorney’s office for updates, but ran into a wall of official silence. The online archive doesn’t show any case activity beyond May 2021, when the three misdemeanor charges against Karl Garcia were dropped. Nor did entering the case numbers involving Karl and Logan Garcia produce any results. 

We even called the phone number listed for Karl Garcia but, unsurprisingly, did not hear back. Sadly, the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals also gave us the cold shoulder.

We darkly suspect that the D.A.’s office has quietly made the case go away, swept under the nearest judicial rug. If that's the fact, it's a black mark against our public prosecutors. Taco deserved much better from them. Evidently, you can get away with murder in Sin City after all.